Hopper among Grammy quarterfinalists

Robin Hopper performs at the Anchorage Folk Festival on Friday, Jan. 18. Hopper is now in her 26th year as a Homestead Elementary music teacher.

Robin Hopper, a music teacher at Homestead Elementary, has been named one of 217 quarterfinalists for a Grammy Music Educator Award, the Foundation announced in May.

“This came out of the blue for me,” Hopper said during an interview with the Star last month.

According to the Grammy Foundation, more than 30,000 teachers from all 50 states were nominated for the award, which was created this year to recognize a music teacher who has made “a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools,” according to the Grammy website.

The winner of the Grammy will be flown to Los Angeles to accept the award, along with a $10,000 honorarium.

Hopper said the nominees will be narrowed down to semifinalists in August, then to a group of 10 finalists in September. Finalists each get $1,000 honorariums and matching grants for their schools.

Hopper, who has spent the past two decades of her 35-year career at Homestead, said she was thrilled simply to make the first cut of nominees.